Why Study Studio Art?
An education in Studio Art provides a solid foundation in any field that requires imagination, visual intelligence, and technical skills. Our recent graduates have gone on to professional lives in everything from architecture to medicine, from the non-profit sector to the armed forces. Artistic training encourages the creativity and habits of reflection necessary for the development of the whole person. As a department, we are artists committed to the formation of a just and humane society that values personal expression. We teach the creative process that enables our students to not only advance ideas, but manifest them.
The Studio Art program provides students with opportunities to investigate our cultures and themselves in a tight-knit department of makers. Our small classes create a strong sense of community while emphasizing the individual. We believe that our students thrive being in an encouraging and non-judgmental environment which prioritizes experimentation and rigorous practice. Through the exploration of painting, drawing, photography, design, mixed media, video, ceramics and digital media, students are encouraged to connect their interests, experience, and other fields of study with their studio practice.
Whether you are taking a single course or earning a degree in Studio Art, our classes emphasize the importance of linking the skillful handling of materials with an understanding of the conceptual issues at stake. It is about having the hand, eyes, brain, and heart working in unison. Through project-based learning, engagement with professional artists and designers, and community institutions such as museums and galleries, our students learn how to view their own work in an art historical and cultural context.
Our faculty members are working artists who are fully engaged with their respective practices. Their wide-ranging professional achievements consist of exhibiting and publishing their work nationally and internationally in museums, galleries, theaters, public spaces, and online platforms. As teachers they bring their expertise, passion, and relationships in the greater arts community to the campus studios. Our community for learning extends beyond the campus walls to the cultural institutions, universities and colleges, and the local neighborhoods which make Boston such a vital place to study and make art.
The Studio Art program is conceived as an integral part of the broader university curriculum and provides multiple opportunities for interdisciplinary research. Students are attracted to our department because it is a dynamic and supportive environment where conversation, multiple perspectives, and critique are valued. The skills learned in our studios have been proven valuable with continued success of our alumni at top graduate schools across the country. By developing visual literacy and the willingness to take risks, our program helps our students to be successful in their chosen fields and to approach our image-laden culture with critical eyes.
